Metrics Show Surge in Google Chrome Use on Weekends

Data from web analytics firm StatCounter highlight how global use of Chrome spikes on the weekend at the expense of IE.

StatCounter tallies page views of websites in different browsers and then shows the percentage of views from each browser, including Firefox, Safari and Opera.

While those latter three don’t fluctuate much during the week, Chrome peaks on the weekends and dips on the weekdays, while the opposite happens with IE. This suggests people are more likely using IE on their work computers and Chrome on their home PCs.

“Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable,” StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen in a statement. “At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE.”

StatCounter pointed out that the amount of global page views using Chrome passed IE for the first time on Sunday. Chrome usage was at 32.71% that day, versus 32.5% for IE. Just two days earlier on a weekday, Chrome usage was at 30.8% versus 35.28% for IE.

A caution here is that StatCounter measures a small sliver of Internet activity – more than 15 billion page views per month from more than three million websites – but the firm does point to an interesting trend.

StatCounter’s chart from Jan. 19 through March 19 can be seen here or below.